vg

Today was one of those up-days that might be a disappointment to many bulls because the gap-ups were not met by follow-on buying throughout the day. A better weekly joblessness report may have been muted by Asian central banks intervening to protect the US Dollar.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,786.79 +61.21 (0.63%)
S&P 500 1,065.31 +7.73 (0.73%)
Nasdaq 2,124.41 +14.08 (0.67%)

Top analyst upgrades and downgrades
Top market rumors
Top day trader alerts

Today was one of those days where commodities and the dollar went all over. Gold still rose, yet oil fell on a very mixed inventory report. The markets started out with some strength, but the major indexes were mixed at the end of the day.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,725.80 -5.45 (-0.06%)
S&P 500 1,057.56 +2.84 (0.27%)
Nasdaq 2,110.33 +6.76 (0.32%)

Analysts: top upgrades and top downgrades
Top Rumors of the Day
Top Day Trader Alerts

Last week's sleeping bull market was brought back to a woken bull market. Despite warnings from Nouriel Roubini that things were up too much too fast, the services sector actually came in above the expansion line after 11 straight months of contraction. This caused most of the excitement for the day.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

DJIA
S&P500
NASDAQ

Today's top analyst upgrades and top analyst downgrades
Today's top day trader alerts
Today's top rumors

Today would have been an exciting day with positive and mixed economic data, a big draw in oil inventories, and the FOMC minutes coming out. But the trading volume is drying up as the A-Team traders are throwing in the towel and not coming back to work until next Tuesday. This was one of those days where there was no feel for an up or down day literally until right at the closing bell.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,277.27 -33.33 (-0.36%)
S&P 500 994.53 -3.51 (-0.35%)
Nasdaq 1,966.70 -2.19 (-0.11%)

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Top Day Trader Alerts

Just a week after incredible gains and speculation in Vonage Holdings (NYSE: VG) pushed its stock up over 400% in just a few days, the internet telephone company announced that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has approved its iPhone app.

This is significant because of the nature of the app; it will allow iPhone customers to use their iPhones to place VoIP calls over the internet instead of using AT&T Inc.'s (NYSE: T) wireless network.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the bizarre rules these days make it worth looking at stocks through a different lens.

How much should we care about low-dollar speculation? How much should we care about the incessant trading in CIT (NYSE: CIT) (Cramer's Take) and Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) (Cramer's Take), Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) (Cramer's Take), or Vonage (NYSE: VG) (Cramer's Take) and Sprint (NYSE: S) (Cramer's Take)? Or even Citigroup (NYSE: C) (Cramer's Take)?

First, I have to tell you that I worry about it less than I used to. Why? Because when we used to have rules and government officials that were willing to speak the truth about stocks, we wouldn't have these single-digit players out there every day. But without it, how in heck can people not believe that Fannie and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) (Cramer's Take) are the biggest and best bets on a turn in housing?

Today was one of those directionless trading days after so many gains that there was absolutely no way to know if the markets would be up or down until the last few seconds of the day. We had a very strong durable goods reading for July and even home sales figures remained high.

Here were today's closing bell levels:

Dow 9,543.52 +4.23 (0.04%)
S&P 500 1,028.12 +0.12 (0.01%)
Nasdaq 2,024.43 +0.20 (0.01%)

Top Analyst Calls
Most Unusual Volume

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) shares rose even though it reported a wider loss for the quarter.
• American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) posted better-than-expected Q1 results but warned of challenges.
• Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) reported a net loss and slumping revenues for the first quarter.
• Center Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: CLFC) was downgraded following its Q1 earnings report.
• Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) posted lower Q3 earnings that still topped analysts estimates.

Fed Chairman Bernanke gave an outline of regulation for banks and financial institutions today, and the weekly jobless claims gave some hope that tomorrow's unemployment might come in under expectations. There is a "sell the news" mentality that is going around ahead of the stress test and there was some tech profit taking after John Chambers was less optimistic. It looks like at least some profit taking is actually possible to see again.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,376.64 -135.64 (-1.59%)
S&P 500 907.28 -12.25 (-1.33%)
Nasdaq 1,716.24 -42.86 (-2.44%)

Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

U.S. stocks were set for a lower open Thursday morning as futures declined ahead of the release of January retail sales and weekly employment statistics. Read more: Before the bell: Stocks set for lower open ahead of retail sales numbers

Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) will get a much needed $19.5 billion investment from Aluminum Corp. of China, or Chinalco, one of the world's biggest aluminum producers. This would help debt-laden RTP pay some of its debts. As part of the deal, Chinalco agreed to invest $12.3 billion in joint ventures in aluminum, copper and iron ore mining.

Alcoa (NYSE: AA) also sold its stake in Rio Tinto to Chinalco for $1 billion, well above its $300 million current value. Mind you, RTP shares declined 67% since the acquisition was made.

For the first time in a long time, the future at Vonage (NYSE: VG) is brightening. According to The Wall Street Journal, "Vonage said Thursday that it had entered into a commitment letter with hedge fund Silver Point Finance LLC for as much as $215 million in financing." The company is about to bring in a new CEO to replace founder Jeffrey Citron.

The new money will allow Vonage to pay down a significant part of its debt.

A better balance sheet does not necessarily make for a better operating business, but it does buy the company time to prove that there is room in the market for an independent VoIP company. Fortunately for Vonage, there probably is.

While cable companies now dominate the voice-over-IP market because they can deliver the product as part of their broadband and TV offering, not all customers want their eggs in one basket. Cable companies often score low on customer satisfaction surveys. Vonage can use this to its advantage.

By positioning itself as the better service alternative, Vonage has a reasonable chance to build a decent business. Over time, that should get the stock up from $1.59.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Vonage (NYSE: VG) is up 4% on a narrowed loss in the most recent quarter.

Applied Material (NASDAQ: AMAT) is up over 5% on an upgrade from Citigroup.

E*Trade (NASDAQ: ETFC) is up over 2% on news of good January results.

Blue Nile (NASDAQ: NILE) is off 24% on bad earnings.

First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) is up 20% on strong earnings.

Stocks may trade differently in the pre-market than they do in the regular session.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

The CEO Shuffle 2007
It's not a question of what's tougher--to climb to the top or to stay there. Without a doubt, it's job security that should be concerning the modern CEO. We've learned this much in 2007. Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Motorola, Yahoo, Home Depot, UBS, Time Warner, HBO, Vonage, NY Yankees are just a few top organizations to say goodbye to the top guy this year.
Bye-Bye, Boss - Forbes.com


A Holiday Bonus With a Catch
Since their holiday party, State Bank & Trust employees have been buzzing - not about which colleagues consumed too much eggnog, but about which worthy individuals or causes will receive the money each worker was given with instructions to "pay it forward." The bank gave each full-time employee $1,000 and part-timers $500 each to donate to someone else.
A holiday bonus with a catch: You can't keep it - USATODAY.com


Home Spiff-Ups for All Seasons
To prevent budget-busting repairs, you've got to invest a little time. But how do you keep track? Just use our home maintenance checklist.
Spiff-ups for all seasons - Money Magazine

Vonage (NYSE: VG) must has 100 people in its general counsel's office. The company only has 1,600 people.

The comment may be fanciful, but the Vonage patent problems are not. Nortel (NYSE: NT) has now become one of a long list of companies to sue the VoIP company, which went public at $17. Vonage shares now trade for $2.

The Wall Street Journal writes (subscription required) that "the patents relate to technology that forms the basis of Internet-based voice service, as well as features such as 911 and 411 calling and click to call, according to Nortel spokesman Mohammed Nakhooda."

Investors in Vonage had hoped that the company's intellectual property problems were behind it. The company has already lost legal actions to several large U.S. telecom companies, including Verizon (NYSE: VZ).

And, Nortel needs to be careful. The Canadian company may be better off with a quick settlement than with a lengthy lawsuit. Vonage is already crippled by lost legal battles and negative cash-flow. On its last balance sheet, the company had $350 million in cash and investments and $275 million in long-term.debt. Payables were $332 million.

Nortel could win the suit and end up with nothing to show for it.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

PeopleSupport (NASDAQ: PSPT) provides business process outsourcing services from facilities in the Philippines. Company personnel handle customer service calls, technical support questions, marketing campaigns and collections. The firm also transcribes voice recordings and captions television content. Services are offered via telephone, e-mail and Web chat. Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) and Vonage Holdings (NYSE: VG) are major customers.

The firm surprised the Street earlier in the month, when it reported Q3 EPS of 27 cents and revenues of $36.9 million. Analysts had been expecting 6 cents and $34.7 million. Management also guided Q4 EPS to 28-29 cents (4 cent consensus), Q4 revenues to $35.7-$36.5 million ($34.8M consensus), FY07 EPS to 84-85 cents (42 cent consensus) and FY07 revenues to $140.6-$141.4 million ($137.5M consensus). The stock popped on the news and then moved into a bullish "flag" consolidation pattern. Prices frequently exit flags moving in the same direction they were traveling when they entered them. In this case, that would be to the upside.